Woman Shot During Screening of Michael Bay’s Benghazi Movie ’13 Hours’
Man tells authorities he accidentally fired a bullet into another audience member
Beatrice Verhoeven | January 22, 2016 @ 7:56 AM
Last Updated: January 22, 2016 @ 8:59 AM
A woman was accidentally shot during a screening of Michael Bay‘s “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” in a Washington state movie theater on Thursday.
According to the police report, authorities arrested a 29-year-old man “who entered one of the theaters and was fumbling with a handgun he had in his possession when it went off, striking another patron seated in front of him.”
Investigators said that the two parties didn’t know each other, but the man seemed to be intoxicated as he fumbled with a gun at the Renton Regal Cinemas.
The police report says that at about 9:41 p.m., a father called 911 and said that his son “was distraught and had told him he dropped his gun at a Renton Landing theater and it had discharged.” Authorities were able to confirm that he was the suspect.
A spokesperson for the Harborview Medical Center told the Associated Press that the woman’s condition is no longer critical and is expected to recover. She had a gunshot wound to the torso.
Renton Police Department public information officer David Leibman told TheWrap that the man was able to bring a gun into the theater because “it’s legal in Washington to carry a concealed weapon and you are allowed to bring a gun into a business unless the business prohibits it.” Leibman also said that the man’s gun was legally owned and he had a concealed weapon’s permit.
“Alcohol and drugs don’t go together and it’s really hard to tell what he did,” Leibman said when asked how the man could’ve accidentally shot the woman. “It’s pretty hard to do that, but he managed to do it.”
Mass Shootings in America That Horrified All of Us (Photos)
Newtown, Conn. - On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. They were between the ages of six and seven years old. He also killed six adult staff members.
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Washington D.C. — A former Navy reservist shot and killed 12 people on September 16, 2013, at a military facility. The gunman was killed.
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Tyrone, Mo. - On Feb. 27, 2015, Joseph Jesse Aldridge killed seven people — four of them relatives — in a door-to-door shooting spree before killing himself.
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Waco, Tex. - Nine people were killed and many more were injured after two biker gangs began firing at each other at a motorcycle club on May 17, 2015.
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Charleston, S.C. - Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people during a racially motivated shooting in a predominantly African-American church on June 17, 2015.
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Chattanooga, Tenn. - A gunman named Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez entered two military facilities on July 16, 2015, and killed four Marines and injured others, before he was killed.
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Umpqua, Ore. - On October 1, 2015, Chris Harper Mercer killed nine people and injured seven to nine more at Umpqua Community College before two police officers shot him. Mercer then committed suicide.
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San Bernardino, Calif. - 14 people were killed and another 21 injured after Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a holiday party on December 2, 2015. The pair were later killed during a shootout with police.
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Orlando, Fla. - 50 people were killed and 53 wounded on June 11, 2016, at Pulse, a gay nightclub. Just before the shooting, suspected killer Omar Mateen called 911 and pledged his allegiance to the terror group ISIS. Mateen was also shot an killed by police on the scene.
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TheWrap looks back at recent mass shootings that have happened on U.S. soil
Newtown, Conn. - On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. They were between the ages of six and seven years old. He also killed six adult staff members.